Vollrath Commercial Kitchen and Serving Equipment Review

RapidsWholesale.com

Bright purple stainless steel bowls. Water-free soup rethermalizers. Fry pans with coatings that make sense, and tongs without springs. Intrigued?

If you are, you’re in luck. After a meeting with Vollrath District Sales Manager Jason Mercil, the sales reps here at Rapids Wholesale in Marion are prepared to help you learn about these new, unique items.

Vollrath Commercial Fry Pans

To start the education: fry pans. Anyone familiar with buying coated fry pans knows the topic can be complicated, and quality is especially important. Research shows non-stick coatings that contain PFOA, a man-made chemical compound, may be dangerous if repeatedly consumed. So, if tiny bits of the coating break off into food, that food may contain harmful materials.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency is working with manufacturers to keep this chemical out of American-made goods. And Vollrath has made some changes, too. They now carry three PFOA-free types of coating:

PowerCoat 2 ™: This is the basic coating. It’s safe, durable, and simple.

Vollrath Fry Pan with PowerCoat 

Steelcoat x3 ™: This variety contains bits of steel right in the coating, making it extra-durable.

Vollrath Fry Pan with SteelCoat X3

Ceramiguard ™: This coating is the strongest. It contains bits of ceramic — even tougher than stainless steel.

Vollrath Fry Pan with Ceramiguard

The new coatings, Mercil explained, are also 20% stronger. This is because the layering process required to make the pans safer also makes them sturdier.

Check out this video of his presentation on Vollrath Fry Pans.

Vollrath  Commercial Small Wares

The topic of sturdiness brings me to my next category: small wares. During his presentation, Mercil illustrated why restaurant owners might find Vollrath ladles worth the price, compared to the economy line. To demonstrate, Mercil held a Vollrath ladle in one hand, and a cheaper variety in the other. After a few powerful flicks of his wrists, Rapids reps watched the economy ladle’s thin aluminum handle begin to droop and warp, while the Vollrath model stayed strong.

Here is the video, check it out!

Rapids reps also handled Vollrath’s Kool-Touch ™ Utility Tongs, with flexible memory metal that allows for a spring-free, one-piece design. This simple design involves less crevices and tiny spaces, making it easier to clean.

Check out how cool these tongs are.

But Vollrath does more than just pans and small wares. This includes water-free induction rethermalizers. These models offer more temperature control than other warmers, with a digital control that can be set in Fahrenheit or Celsius. Vollrath even offers bold colors, like red, green, and black models for occasions where the warmer may be visible.

Later, Rapids reps got a look at an item you may not immediately associate with Vollrath: a slicer. This slicer comes equipped with an easily removable blade to allow for quick clean-up — a feature most affordable slicers don’t include.

Vollrath Slicer

At the end of the demo, we got a look at an array of colorful, curvy, unique sets of dishes and display and buffet wares. “We’ve really expanded our buffet line quite a bit,” Mercil commented.

In particular, Mercil showed off a set of stainless steel bowls in colors varying from a grape-like purple, to golden yellow, to two shades of green. These bowls are designed to hold food near its correct temperature without sweating on the outside.

Vollrath Stainless Steel Bowls

Mercil also demonstrated an example of a Miramar ™ pan for buffets, which features contours that draw onlookers’ eyes inward, towards the food on display. The corners on these pans are designed to be stronger. They can also be used to pour contents straight from the pan.

Innovations like these keep Rapids working with Vollrath. They help us meet our goal of providing restaurant and business owners with creative, well-made products that make sense. To learn more about these and other Vollrath items, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-800-472-7431, where you can reach a sales rep!  Or jump on RapidsWholesale.com online chat!

Written by Holly Hines

Blendtec Commercial Blender Training Review

Blendtec Commercial Blenders Training at RapidsWholesale.com

Imagine a commercial blender so quiet, the sound melts away into the background.  Sound nice?  Well, this month, the reps at RapidsWholesale.com didn’t have to imagine. We heard for ourselves when Bryan Bonine, a representative of The Pinnacle Group, paid us a visit to pass along his knowledge of Blendtec blenders. Bonine came equipped with a brand new model aptly named “Stealth” — a machine Blendtec calls the “World’s Quietest Commercial Blender.”

During a demo here at the Marion Rapids location, we watched as Bonine placed one of the two jars Stealth comes with into a sound-dulling enclosure, on top of a 3.8 horsepower direct drive. When he started the machine and dropped the lid on the enclosure, the noise diminished from a screech-like whine to something more like a hum.

But quiet isn’t the Stealth’s only feature. With 42 programmed blend cycles — it can take on a wide variety of recipes.  And if the 42 blend cycles don’t meet your needs, you can also customize your own using Blendtec’s Blend Wizard app. In addition, the Stealth can handle 200 or more blends a day, at 20-25 seconds per blend — perfect for bars and coffee shops pumping out high volumes of blended coffee drinks or frozen margaritas and daiquiris. In Bonine’s words, “every coffee shop’s going to want that because it’s so quiet.”

Check out this video of his presentation.

youtube.com/RapidsJR

It’s also great for restaurants making dressing, vinaigrettes, and spreads. In fact, the Stealth can handle very fine-tuned blending recipes, thanks to a feature Blendtec calls “capacitive-touch control surface.” This means the machine has a touch sensitive, illuminated slider control you can swipe like an IPad to carefully control the blender’s speed.

Here is a closer look at the user interface.

youtube.com/RapidsJR

The Rapids reps gathered a wealth of information to share with restaurant and business owners about the Stealth as well as other new blenders in Blendtec’s line-up. The Q-Series, which is a step down from the Stealth, features a less-advanced — but still effective — sound-dulling enclosure, as well as 30 programmed blending cycles. Another model, the SpaceSaver, does much of what the Q-Series can do without hogging counter space.  However, it lacks touchpad controls — and only the Stealth has the illuminated slider control.

So, what happens if your Stealth breaks or malfunctions? For starters, Blendtec covers parts, labor, and freight under a three-year warranty. And the drive socket? That’s covered for life.

If you want to see Blendtec’s blenders in action for yourself, go visit Bonine at the 2013 National Restaurant Association show in Chicago in May. Or, for something on the zany side, check out Blendtec’s YouTube sensation called “Will it Blend?” featuring proof that glow sticks, IPads, and even Justin Beiber are “blend-able!”  

Or, if you’re ready to order or get more information, call 1-800-472-7431, or you can jump on our online chat!

Written by Holly Hines.

Manitowoc Indigo Commercial Ice Maker Technology Training Review



Manitowoc Training at Rapids Wholesale

Here at Rapids Wholesale, we had the honor of receiving some sage advice and wisdom from the area's leading authority in all things ice-related, Gene Lind, territory manager for Don Stevens, LLC and an expert in Manitowoc ice makers.  Gene walked us through the super cool technology behind the Manitowoc Indigo Series Ice Makers.  These commercial ice machines feature LCD displays that will communicate the results of it's intelligent diagnostic monitoring system to you and your staff.

Here is our product spotlight video of the Indigo series ice makers from Manitowoc on our YouTube page.

Mantitowoc Indigo Product Spotlight Video

Check out the highlights of Gene's presentation in this video.  Below it, we'll go over some of the key points and tools he's talking about!

Gene Lind's Manitowoc Indigo Training at Rapids Wholesale

These Indigo machines feature a 16-line by 4-line LCD display screen that alerts the user on the condition of the equipment.  This gives you the ability to monitor it's status and set reminders for scheduled maintenance and cleaning.

Service Technicians will have the ability to upload machine status to a USB thumb drive for analysis.  

The menu is easy to navigate and provides users with pertinent data like machine status as well as serial numbers and production functions.  The menu can be displayed in different languages as well.  

Manitowoc Indigo Display Demo CLICK HERE!

For a "live" demonstration of the Indigos menu Navigation CLICK HERE and select the DEMO tab.

Through the menu on the Indigo machines, users get to select the clarity of their ice, also.  If you select a clearer cube setting, the machine will cycle and purge more water to obtain a clean, clear cube.  This is beneficial to businesses where plating and appearance is very important, and definately useful for those involved in food and beverage photography who prefer shooting natural ingredients.

Indigo machines can be password protected to deter staff and residents or guests from disabling the machine or adjusting the reminders.  I can just see it now: the stock boy fiddling with the cleaning schedules to get out of dirty work, ha!

Here is a video that shows how to clean the machines.

Indigo machines can be outfitted with the Automatic Cleaning System or AUCS for hands off, pre-programmed cleaning.  Cleaner and sanitizer bottles are hooked to the machine, and when it comes time for cleaning, the process is automated.  Other reminders can be programmed to alert you when to change the air filter and water filters.

The LuminIce feature is also available on the Indigo line, which prevents yeast and bacterial growth in the food zone of the machines.  This is an important feature for any restaraunt or other establishment that has a bakery.  LuminIce will keep the unit cleaner for longer periods of time using UV light to kill off bacterial growth.

Another neat feature for lower volume restaurants and especially for hotels and motels is the ability to set a timer for production times.  Using the timer will allow you to set the machine to idle production during the overnight hours not to disturb sleeping guests!

To figure out what size machine you will need for your establishment, you can use this handy ICE MACHINE CALCULATOR and then order yours HERE!

Here is a cleaning check list if you already own one!

Manitowoc Cleaning Checklist

Cheers,
Paul